Krill Oil Combined With Curcumin and Silymarin Studied in Mice With Fatty Liver

This study looked at whether combining antarctic krill oil with two plant antioxidants—curcumin and silymarin (milk thistle extract)—could help with diet-induced fatty liver in mice. Curcumin and silymarin are often studied for liver health, but they don’t absorb well on their own because of poor membrane permeability.

Researchers reasoned that krill oil’s natural phospholipids might improve absorption of these antioxidants, since phospholipids help ferry compounds across cell membranes. Mice were fed a high-fat diet to induce fatty liver disease, then given the krill oil, curcumin, and/or silymarin combination.

The mixture reduced signs of fatty liver in the mice. At the gene level, the combination appeared to shift the activity of genes involved in fat (triglyceride) production and breakdown, dial down inflammation-related genes, and support the body’s own antioxidant defenses.